JPR Says Sayonara

The Waco and Baylor ecclesiastical world had a bomb dropped on it - the inevitable departure of Julie Pennington-Russell from Calvary Baptist Church. Under Julie's tenure, Calvary became the church du jour of Truett faculty and students. We visited a few times, but it was just too trendy for us.

This will be an interesting case study to see whether Calvary can hang on to its momentum without the kitsch of a female pastor. There are lots of great people there, but 99% of them leave in the suburbs and commute in for church. There are so many good churches in Waco, it will be tough to compete. As we were leaving, it seemed like Dayspring was growing in trendiness among Baylor religion/philosophy majors and Truett students.

I do not begrudge Julie at all for leaving - I would have done the same thing; but it is always sad to see the ladder-climbing phenomenon. There really is no good, alternative system. I guess people on both sides of the spectrum are not so different after all.